Egyptian cross: from Osiris to ready

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

Human life takes place in the world of symbols. They accompany us from the vest embroidered with amulets to the cross and the candle on the grave. Emblems and signs are present in our holidays and traditions, in art and religion. The first symbols were known to ancient civilizations, but even today their significance cannot be overestimated.

The religion of the ancient Egyptians was a complex branching system of deities that could be embodied in different forms. The symbols of Egypt are also far from being as simple as it seems to sellers of souvenirs. In the article we will dwell on one of the most important signs of ancient civilization.

Egyptian cross

The basis of the religious beliefs of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt was the belief in victory over death, resurrection and rebirth for eternal life. The priests used special images to indicate divine truths. The hieroglyph Ankh, the Egyptian cross, has become a symbol of eternal life, immortality.

ShouldIt should be noted that Egyptologists can interpret the meaning of the ancient sign in different ways. The main interpretations are as follows:

1. 

   The symbol is a combination of two ancient signs - a circle (the personification of eternity) and a cross (the personification of life).
2. Ankh symbolizes Egypt (the oval is the Nile Delta, the cross is the river itself, giving life to the inhabitants of the country).
3. A cross with a loop means the unity of opposites, the union of heaven and earth, water and air, life and death, the union of the male (Osiris cross) and female (Isis oval) principles, leading to the birth of a new life.
4. The Egyptian cross is a symbol of the rising sun, the birth of a new day.
5. Ankh is the key that opens secret knowledge, the gates of death and eternal life (in Christianity it was used as a symbol of the keys to the gates of Paradise, held in the hands of the Apostle Peter).

In a broad sense, the sign symbolizes life in all its manifestations: the existence of an individual, of all mankind, of the gods; birth of a child; resurrection and life after death; immortality. Hence the widespread use of the Ankh in art, magic, rituals, and everyday life. To promote he alth and longevity and protect against natural disasters, the Egyptian cross was painted on amulets and temples, and placed on the walls of irrigation canals.

On various images, the gods held the “key of the Nile” in their right hand or in their mouths, often holding it out to people, as if “blowing” a particle of the divine spark, eternal life. According to myth, Isisused the Ankh to make the "glued" from the pieces and revived Osiris immortal. The form of crux ansata (“cross with a loop”) was given to jugs for liquid, offerings for the souls of the dead (bread, bouquets of lotus and papyrus). They also put an amulet in sarcophagi so that the gods would grant the deceased an afterlife.

Sorceresses and magicians at all times used the Ankh in their rituals for divination, divination and healing. Moreover, it is believed that his magic can only be directed to good deeds: the shape of a cross with a loop directs energy not to the surrounding people, but upwards, to God, and then downwards, to the Earth. Thus, the active force of the spell is the will of the Almighty, and not the thoughts of man.

It is interesting that crux ansata is also found in the culture of other peoples: the symbol of water among the North American Indians, the personification of immortality among the Scandinavians, the sign of youth and freedom from physical suffering among the Mayan peoples. Incredibly, the "keys of life" are found even on the famous statues from the distant Easter Island. In the religion of the Copts (Egyptian Christians), the Ankh began to be used as a traditional Christian cross. For hippies, he symbolized peace and truth.

At the end of the 20th century, ancient Egyptian signs suddenly became popular again. After the release of the 1983 film Hunger, in which vampires hunted their victims using scissors hidden in ankh-shaped pendants, ancient crosses with a noose suddenly became the main attributes of the Goth subculture. Thus, the life of old characters continues and even plays with new ones.faces.